Unraveled

THIRTY

THE KISS ON THE COUCH, when he’d tasted blood. It hadn’t been his own, Aden realized now. It had been Victoria’s. She’d given him several drops—accidentally? purposely?—but that had been enough. Now he was inside her head, hearing her thoughts, seeing the world through her eyes. Feeling her pain.

And oh, was she in pain. There was a burn in her chest, directly over her heartbeat, as if the skin had been singed away. She barely seemed to notice, though.

She stood in front of Riley, gaze cutting through the darkness. They were in the woods, wolves and goblins fighting all around them. Snarls rent the air, as did shouted commands and groans of agony.

“—found him,” she was saying. “He’s in a cave, an entire state away.”

Riley swiped at the blood dripping from his hairline. “I know. We can feel him, too. We just can’t leave this forest until this swarm of goblins is taken care of. Otherwise, they’ll hunt humans.”

“Well, I need a few of your men to follow me to the cave—after they return to the mansion and gather as many vampire warriors as possible.”

Riley shook his head. “You’ll get the wolves and the vampires, but you aren’t to enter the cave alone.”

Stubborn. As always. “I can move faster than you can.” To prove it, she grabbed a goblin racing past by the neck, swooped down and bit, hard, sucking him dry in seconds. The body fell, and she tried not to cringe as she swallowed that last drop of blood. Goblins’ blood always tasted like bile. “You’ll just slow me down, and Aden could be…hurt.”

“You’ll be distracted by the witches, Victoria.” Riley’s gaze was pointed. “You know you will. You’ll do more harm than good.”

No. She wouldn’t. Aden was priority one. “As you just saw, I ate. I’m not hungry, and this conversation is wasting precious time. I’m only here to tell you not to let your wolves or the vampires inside the cave while I’m in there. They’ll ruin everything. Okay? They are only to fight the witches outside.”

Now he frowned, suspicion dancing in his eyes. “Why? What will they ruin? What are you planning?”

What’s necessary. She didn’t say the words aloud.

“And anyway, I need you to listen to me. Your father—”

Is dead. She already knew. “Goodbye, Riley,” she said, and rose on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Then, before the shape-shifter could grab her, she teleported. The ground abandoned her feet, wind rustled her hair and she spun…spun…darkness closing in, sounds fading away. When she reached her new destination, the darkness gave way to beams of light. Panting breaths disrupted the quiet.

Suddenly, Aden was looking at himself.

“Aden.” Her voice stroked his ears. “Aden. Wake up.”

A sharp sting lanced his cheek, then another, as he watched Victoria slap him. Slowly he blinked open his eyes. The cave seemed coated with Vaseline. He blinked again, once, twice, his own image fading and Victoria’s taking its place.

She was here. With him. “Leave,” he croaked. If they found her… “Now.”

“Shhh.” She tugged at the ivy around his wrists, but when she cut one vine, another quickly grew in its place. “Was the meeting called to order?”

“No.” The admission shamed him. “What time is it?”

“Almost midnight. The true countdown has begun.” Still she tugged and clawed. “They kept us busy or I would have been here sooner.”

“Leave me here, and try to get the witches to return to me. That’s the only way.”

“No. I won’t. If I don’t do this now, I may not…I may…”

Be dead, he finished for her.

“And you’ll be stuck,” she whispered, still chopping at the vines. “I can’t allow that.”

He couldn’t fail. He couldn’t. Wouldn’t. “Do you know where the witches are?”

What are you planning? Caleb asked, speaking up for the first time in what seemed an eternity.

Aden ignored him. When it came to the witches, the soul had no objectivity.

With a screech of frustration, Victoria grabbed the vine, pulled herself up and slashed the root with her teeth. Aden’s arms fell heavily to his sides as she spat the leaves onto the ground.

“The witches?” he prompted, trying to rub feeling back into his shoulders.

You’re not thinking about hurting them, are you? Caleb demanded.

And if he is? Irritation pulsed from Julian. What if it’s them or us?

Guys, you need to— Elijah began, only to be interrupted.

“Couldn’t get enough of me, princess, and decided to find me?” Jennifer asked. “I’m touched, really.”

“Yes, thank you for joining us,” Marie said. “Now I won’t have to go to the trouble of sending you an engraved invitation to the night’s festivities.”

The witches had returned.

At the sound of Jennifer’s voice, Victoria had spun around, arms splayed to act as Aden’s shield. He shoved her behind him. They wanted him alive. Victoria, not so much. When she tried to return to her position in front of him, he reached back and squeezed her wrist.

“Do you think we failed to realize the exact moment you had stepped onto our land, tick?” Marie said. One by one, the witches marched to their boulders, claiming their spots around him. They still wore red robes. “Now we can watch you die and revel in the knowledge that we have one less bloodsucking enemy to contend with.”

“No,” Aden barked. Despite the cold, sweat beaded over his skin. “Call the meeting to order. Now.”

Marie nodded as if she had every intention of obeying. “I will. As soon as you give me your vow of loyalty.”

“And trade one death sentence for another? No.”

She gave another of those acquiescent nods. “Then you have brought this on yourself, Haden Stone. I had hoped it would not come to this, but… You will not help us, and so you must die with your friends. Sisters?”

Arms outstretched, fingers interlocked, completing their circle.

Behind him, Victoria stiffened. “On my signal, drop,” she whispered. “I’ll take care of the witches.”

No! Caleb shouted.

It’s the only way, Elijah said. Like Julian told you, it’s the witches or us.

Then it’s us! They are to be left alone.

Aden blocked them out. In less than a single second, he had figured out Victoria’s plan, and he wanted to vomit. The pain in her chest…she’d closed her ward. She was going to free her beast, let him kill these witches to protect Aden—but by doing so, she’d also kill every chance of a meeting being called to order.

Victoria planned to die, but she intended to take those who threatened Aden and her people with her.

He had to stop her. Had to save her. What good was his life without her in it?

“Stop,” a soft voice called before he could decide on a plan of his own.

Brendal strode into the cave, a visibly frightened Mary Ann trailing close behind her. No. No! Aden cursed under his breath. Not her, too. Not here. Not with Victoria’s beast so close to bursting free.

Victoria groaned, the repercussions hitting her, as well.

“Don’t do it,” he whispered. “Please.”

“Oh, good. All we lack is the wolf,” Marie said. Her tone was optimistic, but her features were almost…grim. Definitely haunted. “I’m sure he’s on his way. Where that one goes, he goes.”

“I didn’t see any hint of the wolves outside,” Brendal said.

“They’ll come, so remain on alert. For now, take the girl outside.” Marie waved to the mouth of the cave with a suddenly trembling hand. She looked at it, frowned. “Take her now.”

“I feel like…I’m being…” another witch began, rubbing at her chest as if she were pained.

“My powers are…”

“Drainer,” the witches said in unison, and there was enough horror in their voices to make Aden cringe. Only Marie and Jennifer appeared unsurprised.

“Remove her and hold her until the spell takes effect,” Marie snapped. The howl of a wolf echoed through the cave, and she stiffened. “As predicted, the wolves have arrived.”

Brendal shook her head. “I don’t think I will. Take her out, that is.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Mary Ann,” Victoria suddenly shouted. “Run!”

No, no, no! The signal. Aden dropped to the ground as Caleb shouted a tortured denial. Victoria’s beast flew overhead with a roar.

Mary Ann yelped, but ran as commanded, slowing only when Brendal grabbed the back of her T-shirt. She whipped around and shoved her flattened palm into the fairy’s nose. There was a moan, a spray of blood. She was released and darted away.

After that, Aden lost sight of her. The witches ran for the exit, but the beast beat them to it, flashing sharp, dripping teeth, roaring. He chomped at them, and they scrambled backward. He didn’t let them get very far before he batted them with his tail and his wings. So much strength…they propelled into the cave walls, dust pluming around them.

Most of the witches must have been warded against physical injury because no cuts appeared, even when those razor-sharp teeth bit into flesh. But they did scream, as if they could feel the damage that should have been done to their bodies. A few were not warded; they bled. And bled.

Aden jumped to his feet. A shaking Victoria clutched at him, trying to hold herself back, muttering, “So good. Just a taste. A little taste.”

First things first. “Don’t kill them,” Aden told the beast. “Please.” He needed them.

Please, Caleb echoed.

Those large, dark eyes flicked in his direction. They radiated hunger, it seemed, and anger. Anger at the treatment Aden had endured. Just then, Aden could practically hear the beast’s thoughts. The witches were a threat to him, and all threats must be eliminated.

“Please,” he repeated, and received an almost imperceptible nod. “Thank you.”

And now, for his vampire. Aden backed Victoria against the wall and pushed her into a corner. The beast had spent nearly a century inside her, but she had no control over it, and might be considered another threat. Aden was taking no chances.

He faced her, saw that her eyes were alight, glazed and focused behind him. She licked her lips over and over, as if she already tasted the sweetness she craved. Should he try and feed her his own blood or would that just make her craving worse? “Victoria.” He shook her, adding, “I need you to stay here. Do you understand?”

She didn’t respond, was still staring behind him, at the blood.

He kissed her then, hard and fast, but enough to finally gain her attention. She blinked up at him. “Aden?”

“Stay here,” he commanded. “Okay?”

He moved forward, dodging one frantic witch after another. Someone grabbed his arm and jerked, and he tripped to the side. He freed himself and crouched, remained searching…scanning…there. Marie.

Panic clouded her features as she guided her sisters out of harm’s way. She was closing in on him…almost there…he leapt at her, knocking her down, rolling and pinning her to the jagged floor.

Careful, Caleb pleaded.

She struggled, but Aden held tight. “Call the meeting to order.”

“No!” Panic receding, she gripped his chin and forced his eyes to lock with hers. “Hear me well, Haden Stone. You love me. You want to obey me.” Power pulsed from her, growing, spreading, wrapping around him. “Yes, you love me so much.”

Yes, Caleb said. Yes.

A spell, Aden realized. She was weaving a spell, the desire to love and adore her suddenly there. Impossible. He was warded against mind-manipulation. Wasn’t he? Or was he feeling Caleb’s love for her? Caleb’s need to obey her? Or was love an emotion of the heart, rather than the mind, and she could make him feel whatever she wanted?

Someone tried to physically turn his head for him. Victoria, he thought. He recognized the heat of her hands. Still, he resisted. Caleb was muttering about the rightness of Marie’s claim, how everything was going to be okay if they just did whatever she wished. “Aden!”

The voice, so familiar, beloved, reminding him that there was something he needed to do. Something about his friends. His friends! Yes. He needed to save them.

He gave Caleb a mental shove, and the need to please Marie faded. He glared down at her. “Call the meeting. Now! Call it, and the beast will stop.”

“Hear me well.” Her eyes swirled, luring Caleb back to the surface, catching him, snaring them both, beseeching Aden to obey, to forget his purpose a second time. “You love me. You want to—” She shrieked as the beast chomped her by the arm and tossed her through the air.

She landed with a hard thwack and slumped, fighting for breath. Aden’s gaze remained glued to her. Love…obey…

“Aden,” Victoria said, shaking him. “Aden! Listen to me. Hear me. You have to fight this.”

Marie gained her bearings and stood on shaky legs. She raised her arms, eyes narrowed and still pinned on him. “You love me. You will obey me.”

Love, obey, Caleb said.

“She’s hurting him,” Victoria cried to the beast, and a second later, Marie was screaming, tossed into another wall, but again she stood, ready to finish her spell.

MARY ANN STUMBLED OUTSIDE, into the moonlight. There’d been a…a dragon in the cave. An honest to God dragon. She shouldn’t have run, she thought, but the urge to flee had been instinctive. She’d panicked. She’d obeyed Victoria without hesitation.

Perhaps, though, she wasn’t any safer out here. Another war was being waged.

Where minutes before there had been calm in this rocky canyon, now vampires and a few wolves battled more fairies than Mary Ann could count. And those fairies were vicious. They might not have had access to je la nune poison, but they fought with swords, hacking at fur and flesh, aiming for the vampires’ eyes, ears and mouths, blood spraying.

Riley was here. She knew he was. He would have followed Victoria. So where was he? If he was hurt, she would—

Behind her, there was a screech of fury, and then a heavy weight was pushing her down. She flipped midair and realized Brendal had trailed her out, then she hit the ground and lost her breath, her train of thought.

“You cannot leave,” the fairy snarled at her, grabbing her by the shirt and hefting her to her feet. “You must convince Aden to tell me about my brother.”

Midnight would arrive very soon, and the winner—and loser—of this battle would be decided. One way or another. If Mary Ann died, this woman would never learn the truth about her brother. Had the situation been reversed, had Mary Ann’s dad been the one missing, she would have been just as determined and desperate for answers as Brendal.

“Your brother…your brother is dead,” Mary Ann told her gently, still fighting for air. She tried not to cringe when someone screamed behind her.

Shock. Disbelief. Rage. All three passed over the fairy’s expression. Brendal shook her head, pale hair slapping her ashen cheeks. “No.”

“Yes. He is. I’m sorry.”

Eyes narrowed. “Then where is his body?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who does?”

“Please,” Mary Ann said. “Just tell your people to leave the wolves alone.”

“Who knows?” As she spoke, she shook Mary Ann so hard her brain rattled against her skull. “The boy? The wolf? The vampire?”

Again, Mary Ann ignored the question. She’d given the fairy an answer, but she wouldn’t condemn her friends.

“Would you tell me to save your own life?” Brendal reached behind her, and when her hand reappeared, she was gripping a blade. She held its gleaming tip to Mary Ann’s throat, slicing her skin, burning. Not enough to kill, just enough to hurt.

Fight. You know how. But as Mary Ann moved to smash the woman’s nose into her brain, the blade sank a little deeper. She froze, panting, a cold sweat breaking over her. She was stronger than she’d ever been, yes, and had some training now, but this, this she had no idea how to combat.

There was a howl, a blur of black in the corner of her eye, and then Brendal was soaring to the side, away from her. Riley, in full wolf form, landed on top of the fairy, doing his best to subdue her. Mary Ann’s relief didn’t last long. He wasn’t having much luck, his motions slowing, becoming sluggish.

Was he being drained? Was the fairy somehow weakening him?

I’m the Drainer, Mary Ann thought darkly. If anyone was going to be weakened, it was the fairy. Determined, she lumbered to her feet and stumbled her way to the still-straining bodies. Riley must have sensed her, because he snarled over his shoulder. When he realized it was Mary Ann approaching, he returned his attention to Brendal.

“Hold her as best you can.”

As Riley dropped all of his weight on his opponent, pinning her, Mary Ann crouched and placed her hand on the woman’s neck, where her pulse hammered. She hadn’t had to touch the witch to feed from her, but then she’d been starving and the draining had been involuntary. This time, she suspected she’d have to use force.

She closed her eyes, tried to blank her mind. An unwanted thought arose. If she did this, everyone would know what she was. Her secret would be out. She would be marked for death. Well, more than she already was. Not just by the fairies, but by the wolves and vampires.

Another thought formed. If she didn’t do this, Riley could be injured. And besides, she might not survive the night, anyway. So, really, what did she have to lose?

Finally, her mind blanked. I’m hungry, she told herself. So hungry.

She waited. The warmth remained at bay, out of reach.

I’m starving. I need the fairy’s energy.

Again, nothing.

Time to regroup. So far, the ability had worked only on the witches. Riley had said that Mary Ann would begin with the witches, but then her need would expand to fairies, then to all other types of creatures. Perhaps it was still too soon to feed from anyone else.

No. No. She could do this. She had to do this. Mary Ann concentrated, focusing completely on the fairy. Brendal’s skin was soft, her pulse strong, so strong, like a drum. A song. Mary Ann listened to that song, allowed it to play inside her mind, absorb in her blood.

Brendal jerked against her hold.

Mary Ann absorbed the motion, too. The warmth she’d craved soon followed, sinking inside her, and oh, it was nice, too. Like being inside a cabin, snow all around, yet a fire leaping to life in front of her, soothing her.

The song slowed, however, and she frowned. She wasn’t done listening, and now, the melody wasn’t quite as pretty. It was lacking somehow. And then, even the warmth faded. She wanted more warmth. Needed more warmth.

Enough. You have to pull away, Mary Ann, or you’ll kill her. I know you don’t want to kill her.

Riley’s voice shouted through her head, jolting her, and she ripped her hand away from the fairy. She blinked open her eyes. Brendal lay motionless, barely breathing, but thankfully alive.

She’d done it. She’d actually done it. She had drained the fairy.

Can you drain the others? Riley asked, urgent. Just enough to weaken them?

Trembling, she scanned the still-raging battle. Most of the wolves were as sluggish as Riley had been, the fairies seemingly stronger than ever. She was ashamed of the little spark of glee that flickered in her chest. Not because she wanted to help, but because she want to hear more of those songs, feel more of that warmth. “I’ll try.”